THE STORY OF UNDERSUN FITNESS

James Grage: Welcome to the Under the Sun Podcast where we talk about everything under the sun related to fitness, nutrition training, nutrition, just life in general. Sometimes we'll even talk a motivation or business motivation or how to get set up with a business, which the funny thing is they all tie in, they all have the same common ground between what it takes to be successful with fitness and every other aspect of life. For me, my building blocks, so to speak, came from fitness. That's where I learned discipline. That's where I learned hard work and consistency and all those success skills and the light bulb went off for me and I realized, wait a second, if I can build a great physique using these same sort of, like I said, success tools, then I can build anything. So that was a big turning point for me. And that's one of the reasons why I love fitness, why I love sharing fitness, because it gives us all that sense of control over our life. 

James Grage: And I think once we realize that, that we do have more control over our own destiny, that's very empowering and just like I did, you can start applying that to different areas of your life. Now, with that being said, today's topic, I've had a lot of people ask me in different forms. Some of it's been very, you know, nice feedback and you know, questions. Some of it's been, you know, on different social platforms, kind of more of these snarky comments. It's specific to resistance band training, why I started doing this. So I'll give you an example of some of the more negative comments, which truthfully don't bother me at all, but it does make me feel like it's something I would like to clarify.  Why I'm doing what I'm doing. Why am I training this way?

James Grage: Why did I start Undersun fitness, et cetera? Because there seems to be this perception out there amongst people who don't know me and don't know my background and haven't been following my content for any period of time. This is some sort of gimmicky thing that just out of nowhere I just decided that I was going to, you know, trick people into buying resistance bands that I don't really work out this way, that this is some sort of gimmick, which is certainly anything but the case. So I thought it'd be kind of cool to just give you a little bit of the backstory. So this is story telling time. So this is how I got to this point in my life, both in the way that I train and what I'm doing in business. So I guess I'd have to back up a little bit.

James Grage: Obviously I've been training for a long time. Any of you guys who followed my stuff know that I have a long interesting journey in the fitness industry, having been a part of so many different things. There was a point in time where I worked for Weider Publications, which was Muscle and Fitness Magazine, Flex Magazine, Muscle and Fitness Hers, et cetera. But one of the assets was also the Mr. Olympia Contest. So was involved with that as well. I done, you know, competitive bodybuilding myself. I kind of just seen all aspects of this industry and really watch them mature over time. But, the way that I started training was the way the most people started training. And I actually, when I was 16, I asked for a weight set for Christmas.

James Grage:  My parents didn't have much money, so I talked to my mom  into buying me the bar and the weights and my dad into buying the bench for me. And that's how it started working out in the backyard. Well, first it started in my bedroom, but I really didn't have much room in there, so I kind of migrated to the garage, the backyard, wherever I could fit it. But that's where it started. And then eventually I made my way into the gym. And like most people, that's how I first started building my physique was that kind of traditional approach of, more of like a bodybuilding split and going in there and lifting heavy weights. And I loved it. And matter of fact, to this day, I still have an appreciation for lifting weights. Now I don't necessarily want to lift that way anymore, but I still appreciate it.

James Grage: It's part of my heritage, part of my roots. So I'm certainly not anti weights by any stretch of the imagination, but one of the comments that I get a lot is, "well you didn't build up physique with resistance bands" and you're right, I didn't, because I've been training. I always said I've been training over 25 years, but I was kinda doing a reality check. And I realized that coming up next year, next year will be 30 years that I've been working out. That's a long time. And so yes, I did not use resistance bands through all 30 of those years, but I did use them for the past 11 years. And that actually came about because when I was at Muscle and Fitness Magazine, we had a client who was advertising in the magazine who was selling resistance bands. And they were the tube style with the carabiners on the end and the handles and all that.

James Grage: And so I got hooked up with a set of them that came in a little duffle bag, what kind of like a medium-sized duffle bag. And this was the, I guess the extra heavy version of it. So it came with more bands than the normal one. And, I really didn't know a whole lot about resistance band training, but I started doing some research and I worked with some people over at Muscle and Fitness and we were starting to publish some articles on it at the time talking about linear variable resistance. And so that was one of the first things that I really started to key in on was what was linear variable resistance, which was the same reason the powerlifters were training with chains. So I'd already been exposed to linear variable resistance, this idea of, progressive resistance, so as you go through the range of motion, the weight increases as you get into a stronger position.

James Grage: So I started training with resistance bands purely out of functionality. It wasn't because I was so in love with resistance bands. Honestly, I was kind of indifferent to them in the beginning. But I started combining them with free weights just with a goal of enhancing my workouts, making my workouts harder, wanting to get stronger. Plus, I just like the idea of testing out new things, doing things differently. So that particular time I actually got stronger than I ever had been before. And that's when this light bulb went off. Like, "WOW! Bands are really effective!" Because I could go in with free weights and try to progress by just always trying to lift heavier and heavier. But the one thing that I realized is the heavier that I always tried to lift, I was always sacrificing a little bit of form. Good technique wasn't getting that same kind of peak contractions and time under tension because I was having to sling the weight too much.

James Grage: But with bands, I felt these really awesome contractions and I just loved the way that it felt and I liked the results that I was getting from it. So there's a little bit this idea when, kind of light bulb went off in the back of my head like, "Man! These things are so good! I bet you could work out only with resistance bands and get the same result".

But the reality is at that particular point in time, I was too scared to leave the gym. It was just too much of what I knew at that point. Think about, so that was, that's 11 years ago, you got to figure I was already training for almost 20 years in the gym. So you kind of set in your ways and you don't really like to change. And that was me. So even though I like trying new things, I wasn't prepared to leave the gym yet and say, "Hey, bye! Bye, weights! Bye, machines! Bye gym! I'm just taking off with my bands".

James Grage: I wasn't ready for that. But the idea started at that point. So through those 11 years, I would train with them off and on. I incorporated them in different ways. So literally combining them in exercises. So imagine doing curls where you're grabbing a dumbbell and using them in combination with the band. Same thing, with doing chest presses or flies, et cetera. But then I would also experiment using a say free weight only exercise. And then maybe my last set of that exercise, I would do it with bands only and then I would do some exercises just with weights and then some complete exercise, every single set with bands only. So I started experimenting with it and using the bands more and more. But I still really wasn't ready to make that full commitment to using bands only. And that happened a little over two years ago.

James Grage: So it started about two and a half years ago. And I'll tell you what happened, it was a combination of things. One, I had decided that I wanted to compete in a physique show, at the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio. And I was really only doing it for a goal and just to prove to myself that I still could do it, that, at 40 years old I could jump up on stage and compete with guys that were half my age. I've always got a little bit of chip on my shoulder, always something prove, I guess. But if anything, just prove it to myself. But, I started training for that and really I was doing the show to motivate myself just to get in better shape. I'm always looking for a goal because I think that's one of the most important things that you can do for yourself when you really want to push yourself, to get extreme results, you've got to have a really good reason why.

James Grage: And on top of that you to have a good goal, it has to have a very clear deadline. You have to have that sense of urgency to really push yourself. So doing the show is a nice combination of those things. It's a good goal, something to focus on. And it's got a very clear deadline, which is that day that you step on stage.

So I was doing it to push myself in the gym, and what really sucked is I end up injuring myself.  Not a big injury. It started off just as some tendonitis in my forearm, so my elbow was a little bit sore and you know, something that I think a lot of us have experienced is something I experienced when I was in my twenties too. I mean, I see guys that are in their early twenties even teens in the gym with elbow wraps and all sorts of different things on there because they're experiencing elbow pain and I didn't do anything about it. 

James Grage: I kept training, pushing through it and eventually got to the point where I couldn't even hold the toothbrush. I couldn't even brush my teeth. It was awful. And so I talked to a friend of mine who had had something similar, but it progressed to the point where I had actually torn his tendon at the elbow. So, I asked him which doctor he went to because I'd tried everything at that point. I went to acupuncture, I had done deep tissue, all the fascia work, you name it, like all the scraping and the cupping and whatever. Nothing was working. So I went to this doctor and she said, well, the simple problem is that you're just over gripping. She said, tennis elbow, golfer's elbow. She said, everyone always thinks that it's from the swing. It's not. It's the different hand position or the different angles, but it's over gripping.

James Grage: That's what causes the tendonitis. So usually it starts with inflammation in the muscle and then if you don't do anything about it, that inflammation starts to spread. And ultimately you can get what's called tendinosis, which is what I had, where you get inflammation in the nerve and then that takes a lot of time.

So long story short, it took about three months to heal without using it. So that really put a dampener on all my training, getting ready for this show. But I was committed. So I was just looking for different ways to go ahead and, you know, follow through on my commitment and do this show. So I was doing all kinds of crazy stuff where I was like trying to attach wrist straps to the cable machine so I wouldn't grip it. I mean it was kinda ridiculous, but got my way through it, did the show and then afterward I was reflecting on it and I just said to myself, man, I hate being injured and I don't know anyone who does love being injured.

James Grage: But yeah, we tolerate it. It's one of those things that we tell ourselves that when we work out, it just goes with the territory. But it doesn't have to. And it just was, I reached this point where I just was sick and tired of it. You know, I work out so I can feel good, not feel like shit.

And so I thought, you know what, let me just take a little break from the weights and let me go back to bands. Maybe this would be a cool opportunity just to train with them. So after a couple of weeks of playing around with them, I'm like, "you know what? I think I'm ready for this". I think I'm ready just to, to give this thing a shot and try Benz only. So started working out with them and I thought, you know what, let me go ahead and throw some of this stuff on my YouTube channel.

James Grage: So I put up some chest workouts and arm workouts and back workouts. So I basically, every single workout I was doing, I did a video for it and I threw it up on YouTube. And at that particular time I was already busy, had my business. The last thing I wanted to do is get into, bands and training and all that, but I'd reach out to this company that originally got me into it in the first place and I said, "Hey, why don't we do something here. I'm going to create some content. I think I'm going to go full in. I'm going to jump into band training only, you know, I can send the traffic your way or you know, maybe there's something we can do or I can hook people up with a discount". A long story short, I got zero response from them.

James Grage: Nothing! Reached out twice and I thought, "You know what? okay, well, not going to work with them. But I had all these people saying, "Hey, what bands you use?" "What do you recommend?" and you know, "What training programs you recommend"?  And I had been playing around with, I had moved from the tube style bands over to the loop style that uh, which the Undersun bands are,  off of. And the one thing that I liked about them was that I had a level, a little bit more flexibility in my hand positioning like with the tube style because they have the handle built into them.

You really can't, you don't have as much flexibility with shortening or lengthening the band. And that's where your variable resistance comes from. The more you stretch the band, the harder they get. So you could increase the resistance if you're anchoring it with say your feet by widening your stance or trying to wrap the band around your foot, et cetera.

James Grage: But I just liked the loop style where I could reach further down on the band, grab it wherever I wanted. And I just felt like I had so many different options when it came to the resistance level. And the big thing was they were super light and they were portable is like this minimalist approach because with the tube style I didn't like, the big duffle bag is like this big heavy duffel bag and it all the metal karabiners and handles and all the attachments and it's just too bulky and too heavy. And so I started training with five different levels of resistance with the loop style bands. And that's kinda when the idea of like clicked, I was like, all right, well I don't know anything about any of these companies. I don't know who they are. I don't know how their bands are made.

James Grage: I don't know what they're made of. I don't know if they stand behind the company or if they're just selling it just because it's just another thing to sell. And I couldn't find any good training programs out there specific to muscle building. So I thought, you know what, I'm gonna do it for myself anyway. I'm, I'm committed to this, I'm going to do it. So I might as well just make it accessible to everybody else. And so that was the beginning of this idea with undersigned. So it started with me wanting to just train this way, being committed to it because I liked it. I liked the freedom that I had. I didn't have to go into the gym if I didn't want to, but it wasn't about that, you know, I was telling someone the other day that the extra freedom that you have wouldn't matter if you didn't get the results you were looking for.

James Grage: Like none of those peripheral benefits matter. If at the end of the day they don't work. But that was the thing. I already knew that they worked. I already knew I could get great results from them. So then I started thinking about like all these other, like I said, peripheral benefits. Like wow, you know, this is super time efficient. I don't have any time because I've got a business and kids and wife and trying to juggle all these things like we all are and being able to save time any way I can is super important to me. Because I felt like I was always trying to create time. I was getting up super early in the morning, I was staying up late at night just trying to squeeze more stuff in the day and I couldn't create more time. But then I thought, "You can create time with called efficiency!", not wasting time.

James Grage: And so I, the fact that not having to go to the gym, which was a 20-minute drive for me either way, which was 40 minutes in total, I thought I could pretty much finish my entire workout just in that amount of time that I'd be in my car. So those other benefits, like the time efficiency and the freedom, et cetera, being able to travel like that was a big thing. Being in the fitness industry as long as I have been, you have no idea how many opportunities that I passed up through the years because it just didn't fit in with the structure of my day. Because to be really successful with your fitness goals, you do have to be very, very disciplined. You have to be structured, you know, to make something habitual, you almost have to do it at the same time, the same way every single day where you're not thinking about it.

James Grage: It's just kind of automatic. Just the same way that you would brush your teeth in the morning without thinking about it. So every time I had the opportunity to travel or go somewhere, the first thing that popped into my mind is, well, where am I going to work out? What am I going to eat? And at the end of the day, I didn't want to disrupt my schedule and that consistency. So I passed up a lot of those opportunities and I'm just at a point now where I just don't want to pass up those opportunities anymore. I want to travel, I want to get out there, I want to do cool things and you know, so to be able to just throw these bands in a bag and I have to worry about where I'm going to work out anymore, I know that it doesn't matter. Literally, doesn't matter. I could do it in a hotel room, I could do it, you know, out on the beach.

James Grage: I could do it on a mountain top. I could do it anywhere, literally anywhere. So it just gives me a lot more freedom in that respect. And now I feel like I can juggle all the things that I want to juggle. I can focus on my business, focused on my kids. I don't have to sacrifice that anymore because frankly I was at this point where I was starting to feel really guilty as a dad because it was this choice like, "Okay, do I stay committed to my fitness goal and go to the gym at five 30 and not get home until 7 when my kids are going to bed at 8:15?" It just didn't seem fair to them. Felt like I was neglecting that responsibility. So when you've got all of these prior priorities and you're not willing to sacrifice any of them, you know, business or slash career kids, wife, your own sanity, you know, and then trying to fit this in with your, your fitness goals.

James Grage: I see why people give up the gym. I see why it's so easy for people to just stop going. You're like, all right, well I had all the priorities, as important as it is to me, that's the one that can be sacrificed because I can't sacrifice my kids or I can't sacrifice my job. So I wasn't willing to sacrifice any of those things. So I had to find a way to make it work and this is the way I found to make it work. So for me with Undersun, I'm not just selling resistance bands and workout programs. My goal here is to help people find a better quality of life because that's what it's done for me. It's given me more freedom. It's given me more time. It's given me more sanity because now I'm not killing myself trying to squeeze all these things in a day.

James Grage: And so my overall quality of life is better. It's not just about getting great results. But with that being said, I still go back to the fact that I wouldn't train this way if it didn't work. After almost 30 years of training, of serious training, like I have been as disciplined and as consistent as anyone could ever be. I've worked my ass off at this, literally my whole adult life. This is something that, fitness was the first time I was ever really disciplined in my life. That's where I learned discipline because I was very undisciplined as a kid. And so this was the first place that I was ever able to get great results in my life because I had that kind of consistency and hard work and focus and to value that. As much as I value it, I'm not going to just do something just because it's convenient or because it's easier because it's portable.

James Grage: Now I'm going to do it because it works and it does work. So I get it when I see all the skepticism and some of the negative comments like, "Oh, you didn't build your physique that way", or "Resistance bands can't build muscle", or all the negative things that I hear, I get it. But that's only because it's unfamiliar.

Trust me, another year from now, this is going to be so commonplace and it's already happening. I went out to LA  and it was, it was weird. It was just like, people just gravitated right towards it. I think on one side, people are always looking for something, the latest, greatest thing. But the big thing is when people try it, they look at it and they can say, "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, the other bands". But then when you actually put them through a workout and let them FEEL it and feel that different kind of contraction because it is a different kind of contraction than with weights.

James Grage: And it feels good! Like people ask me if I'm ever going to go back to weights. I don't, I mean, never say never, but I really just don't have the desire to, because every time I pick up of a dumbbell, just out of curiosity and I'll do a curl just to see what it feels like, make sure that I haven't lost any strength. I just don't like the way it feels. It doesn't have that same kind of contraction.

So I've just really kinda gotten to the point where I love the way the bands feel. And so that's the big thing is it starts with that. It starts with effectiveness. And then all the other benefits are peripheral benefits. But, that's kind of like the long and the short of it. So then it just came down to like, all right, well let me make bands, so let me make sure that they're the best quality possible.

James Grage: I mean, in the beginning, my perception is the same as what most people's is, which is "bands are bands", but actually it turns out they're not.

It comes down to the quality of the material. It's just like anything else. There's also natural versus synthetic. I didn't want to go with something synthetic because those are all petrochemicals, super toxic for the environment. These are all-natural. It's a renewable resource. I don't know if you've ever seen natural latex, how they do it. It's almost like, imagine how it is in Canada with the maple trees, the way they tap the trees and the syrup comes out of the tree. It's exact same thing with latex A). So it's a renewable resource. They are ultimately, they are recyclable, biodegradable. B.) they do break down eventually over time. So I want to make sure there was something that was a good quality product.

James Grage: So we put it through all sorts of testing, do really cool test where they'll actually cut a section of the band out and they'll put on a big hydraulic machine and they'll stretch this thing to seven times its resting length, which is kind of scary to watch cause it looks, you feel like it's just going to explode any second. I mean, imagine seven times, they're 42 inches long. So stretching this thing to over 280 inches. It's pretty impressive actually.

So they're very strong, very durable. As long as you take care of them. The biggest thing is you want to avoid sharp edges. I had a bad habit of anchoring all sorts of things. I'd anchor them around trees, et cetera. And you know, a lot of trees have sharp edges with the bark and it is natural latex at the end of the day.

James Grage: So if you put it against something sharp, it's kind of like running over nails and broken glass with your car, expecting not to get a flat tire. So you just have to take care of them. But if you do, they're super durable, they're strong. And I think that's the biggest thing is people have this idea that resistance bands don't have the kind of resistance that free weights have, which is kind of a silly notion to be honest with you. Because I can stack up resistance bands where I can't even move it. It doesn't matter what the exercise is. So resistance bands can provide as much resistance as you want them to. A lot of peripheral benefits, which I've covered in other videos. I'm not going to bore you with it of why I like them, not just the linear variable resistance and constant tension and tension in different range or on different planes.

James Grage: You know, you get resistance in a horizontal plane, which is game changer really opens things up. But, like I said, I've covered all that stuff before this. I just wanted to jump in and really just tell the backstory of how this all came to be.

Because this wasn't just this idea of, "Hey, let me start some sort of business. What can I sell? What kind of gimmicky thing can I sell?" Because at the end of the day, I could have sold anything. You see it on Amazon: ping pong balls and clips. So this wasn't some sort of gimmick.

I only do it because I love it. It's part of my lifestyle. It's really changed my life as far as quality of life. So I figured if it's helped me, then there are other people out there that I think could benefit from it and appreciate it.  Appreciate that freedom, appreciate being able to take their workouts outside, which I don't know if any of you guys are like me, but man, I feel claustrophobic sometimes.

James Grage: I just, I'm in the house and I get in the car and you go to work and you know, the last thing that I wanted to do at the end of the day was then go indoors again to a gym. So it's, if the weather was nice just to have that opportunity to be outside, just to go get some fresh air and some sunshine.

Doesn't matter where you're at. Yeah, I'm by the beach. And so I like training by the beach, but you don't have to be by the beach. You could be, you know, out in mountains or a park or wherever you want to be. And it doesn't even have to be outdoors.

You can do it at home. There's plenty of times where I work out at home. Sometimes I'll do it in the backyard, I'll use one of the door anchors and I'll anchor it, uh, to one of the doors and do it on the back patio.

James Grage: But sometimes I'll do it in the house or sometimes I'll do it when I'm at work or it doesn't matter where.  You just have to set that time aside and just do it. But now there's no excuses anymore. You can't say that time is your issue. If you really want to do it, there's a way to get it done. And that's what I was looking for.  If there's a will, there's a way.

And so I found a way. Now you just need the will and you can get your workouts in and you can make them super effective. But with that being said, I've got some crazy stuff planned for the rest of the year. Got some stuff that I'm really excited about. New programs. 

James Grage: And I hate setting an expectation not being able to live up to it, but we have a nutrition plan, which is the plan that I personally follow. It's been an evolution of trying different things. You know, through the years I've tried every kind of diet you can think of. I've done, you know, traditional bulking and cutting. I've done carb cycling, low carb, KETO, intermittent fasting, you name it. I've tried it. And so what I did with this program is I took all of the things that I liked, the things that worked, the things that got results and combined the individual elements from each of those things into one training or, sorry, not training, but nutrition philosophy. And my whole goal these days is something that doesn't feel like a lot of work. It doesn't feel like I'm having to overthink it over plan for it.

James Grage: I don't want my nutrition plan to be the center of my universe, you know, revolving around what I'm going to eat. I just don't have time for that anymore. It'd be one thing if I was doing something really serious. I want to step on stage again, uh, then I would put a little bit more effort into it. But I want a plan that gets great results, helps build muscle, helps me stay lean and something that I can do 24/7/365 and do it forever and never fatigue of it. Never feel like, Oh man, this diet is such a drag. I can't wait to finish. Because if you have that in your head, I can't wait to finish. Well, then what Then what's going to happen If that's the plan that got you the results, then what happens when you say, okay, I don't want to follow this anymore.

James Grage: You think you're going to stay in the same shape. No, you're going to backslide. And then you can be frustrated because you're going to be yo-yoing, and it's like great shape, out of shape, great shape, out of shape.

So for me, it was finding a way to make this more sustainable yet still get good results. So that's the nutrition plan that I've been following for a while now. I personally think this is, where nutrition strategies in general are going to gravitate towards. And it's not because I'm paving the way, I just think because it makes sense.

I think that balance make sense. You know, balance has got to be the ultimate goal in life. And so a nutrition strategy that's balanced is the ultimate goal. That's what's gonna make it more sustainable because anything that's an extreme is very difficult to follow consistently.

James Grage: Got some new training programs coming out, got some great partnerships coming out. So just, this is the very, very beginning. I, we've, had a lot of hiccups here in the beginning just from, a startup business perspective.

People think it's so easy to, you know, start up an eCommerce business.  Like, "Oh, let me, let me use, do a Squarespace or Shopify website and, throw up some product, order and throw it on there for sale selling products". The easy part, it's everything else that goes along with it, that a, that's a challenge in business. And so we've certainly had our growing pains here. One of them a, a good problem to have was simply the, we just sold to inventory much faster than we thought we would several times now.

James Grage: And so had to deal with a lot of out-of-stocks, which you'd think is a good problem, but is not a good problem in the sense from a customer service standpoint.  We've got a lot of great loyal customers that have been pretty upset because the shipping experience just wasn't is as good as it should be, especially compared to. I mean, look, we're all pretty, myself included, we're all pretty spoiled. We all have a high standard these days because of Amazon. You know, Amazon will deliver same day, one day, two day, we think two days, a long time. You know, used to be that you got your stuff in a week, you were cool with it. So, you know, it's a, the bar is set pretty high these days. And then when you have some of these, let's call them operational glitches, it, uh, definitely can throw a wrench in things.

James Grage: But I've been working through all that. That's our goal too. You know, it's not just to grow the business. My ultimate goal is to grow our community. That's what I enjoy doing. I like creating communities where it's a safe environment where people can encourage each other, you know, share progress. And you know, there's so much nastiness on social media, just everyone's got something shitty to say. They're just waiting. They're just waiting to try to knock someone down. So to be able to create a place where it's a cool vibe where you know, people can come hang out and share positive things, I enjoy that. So that's my ultimate goal. But in order to do that from a business perspective, you have to have a good customer service experience. You can't start things off on a Rocky foot by shipping their stuff slow.

James Grage: So just been working through all that and at the same time, as we go through all these operational things that you have to deal with in a business is creating all the cool new stuff.

And that's the stuff that obviously I enjoy. I wish I could do that 24, seven just launched new programs and tips and all that. But I, I think we're doing a pretty good job balancing it all. We've got the, I dunno if you check it out, but make sure you go to Instagram on, uh, the undersigned account. I also put them on my page as well, but, uh, you know, weekly tips.

So every Tuesday, matter of fact, so today there's another one coming out, different tips using resistance bands. Uh, uh, Nick does them on Thursdays as well. And you know, the YouTube videos trying to come out with a new YouTube video, trying to be consistent here, get one out once a week.

James Grage: But like I said, it's a challenge with all these things, kind of multitasking, wearing 20 different hats at the same time, but, that's the long and short of it, that's it. That's where the whole thing started. That's where it's at right now.

I'm having fun with it. I'm enjoying it. I think anytime when you take something that you're passionate about, that you enjoy something that's meaningful to you and you share that with others, then that's rewarding. And so that's where I'm at right now. I, it's not easy, you know, building a business is not easy. I get a little irritated when I watch all these people, you know, promoting these workshops and you know, you see it all over Instagram like, Oh, it's so easy to start your online business. It's such a fucking lie.

James Grage: It's not easy. It's anything but easy. I now the cool thing is that opportunity is there. If you want to do it, you have that opportunity. And that's what makes well this country and in particular still an amazing place. I mean, people talk about the American dream is dead. No, the American dream is not dead. We still have the opportunity to do so many cool things that other people in the rest of the world, they don't have those same kinds of opportunities. They don't have that same kind of freedom or that luxury. So Hey, you want to start a business? You can do it. I don't think it's easy because nothing good is easy. But, that's it. Uh, it's kind of where we're at. I just wanted to share with you guys, give you behind the scenes of what the thought process was.

James Grage: When I put this whole thing together, why I was doing it. For a lot of people, it seemed like a radical shift. Like Whoa, this dude went from like serious weight training to now selling resistance bands. Is this some sort of gimmick? He just trying to make money off this?

No. I'm doing it because I love it. And it's as simple as that. When you can combine something that you're passionate about and something that you're good at. For me, I feel like probably one of my talents is just being a teacher. Just sharing information and trying to take things that seem complicated, maybe even intimidating and trying to simplify it so people can understand it. And that's one of the things that I happen to enjoy doing. So taking, you know, fitness and education and bring those two things together.

James Grage: And that's really the core of Undersun. And then you throw in the community building aspect on top of it. It's all of the things that I enjoy in motivating people, which I do because it motivates me.

That's the easiest way that I can motivate myself is leading by example, holding myself accountable. So it's kind of a selfish motivation mixed in there, I guess. You know, still doing it for myself at the end of the day cause it helps me. But, uh, that's it for now.

So I appreciate you guys listening to me drone on. But if you're part of the Undersun community then I figured, it'd be nice for you to hear the story as far as immediate things where we're going besides the nutrition plan. Definitely if you have the opportunity, jump on the private Facebook group for Undersun.

James Grage: It's awesome that there's some, uh, some different Facebook user groups out there that have started up. So always love seeing that. But this one is the, the official one that we've started. And the reason that I encourage you to jump on there, as soon we will start doing live Q and A's, which I'm looking forward to, and that's where we get to jump into all the miscellaneous random topics and talk about different things. And you know, not just training philosophy specific to bands, but some of the more general philosophies that apply to any style of training, especially when it comes to goal setting, motivation, nutrition, all that good stuff.

So that's it for now. I'm going to tune out. I appreciate you guys tuning in and I will see you next Tuesday at 12:00 PM Eastern. All right guys.